Menu

Sunday’s Obituary

John Musgrove is my 2x great grandfather. He was born c1833 to parents Joseph Musgrove and Jane Dewhurst.

On 6 October 1855 John married Catherine Ainsworth at the Parish Church in Blackburn, Lancashire. They had at least 5 children:-

Susannah – born 2 August 1856 – died 1 February 1869
George – born 20 August 1857 – died 20 August 1857
Thomas Ainsworth – born 12 December 1860 – died 16 April 1928
Joseph – born 13 April 1864 – died 3 June 1948
James – born 5 August 1868 – died 23 November 1868

I have found John on the 1841, 1851, 1861 and 1881 census returns. His occupation varied over the years and he was described as a crofter, a carter and a general labourer. In the 1871 census Catherine is living at 18 Ellen Street, Over Darwen, Lancashire and I assume that John was away from home at the time of the census.

On the 2 December 1858 tragedy struck the family when John’s father, Joseph Musgrove, died as the result of a fall at home. Here’s a blog post about his death – Sunday’s Obituary – Joseph Musgrove

Ever since I started my interest in genealogy and researching my family history my mother has regularly told me of a story about a suicide by hanging somewhere in the past. So I was aware that at some point I may find the evidence.

Back in August this year I finally got round to ordering a copy of John Musgrove’s death certificate. And now I have the confirmation of the family story – cause of death was “suicide by hanging – unsound mind”.

According to the death certificate John died at Railway Road, Clitheroe, Lancashire, on 17 September 1884. An inquest was held by the Deputy Coroner J C Anderson on the same date.

The family story was that John returned home one night and the door was locked. Whether he had been drinking, whether John and Catherine had argued, I guess I will never know. Catherine refused to let him in and John replied that he might as well kill himself. If the story is to be believed then Catherine threw him a rope.

Despite my best efforts I have not been able to find any record of the inquest. I have tried Clitheroe library and been to Blackburn library to search the newspaper archives. I’ve also spoken with the Blackburn Coroners Office. There is a death notice in the local Blackburn paper but no report of the inquest. I discovered during this search that inquest records/reports were considered to be the property of the coroner and were most likely destroyed when the coroner retired.

So sadly it seems I will never learn any more about the tragic events of Wednesday 17 September 1884.

Harrison Musgrove is my great grand uncle. His parents are Harrison Musgrove and Jane Rooking (my 2x great grandparents).

Harrison was born on 29 May 1858 in Kendal, Westmorland. He remained in Kendal until sometime in the mid 1880’s. On the 1871 census at the age of 12 his occupation is given as “tobacconist” and in 1881 he was working as a “farm servant indoors”.

Sometime in Q2 1883 Harrison married Jane Harrison in Kendal. As far as I can tell Harrison and Jane had at least six children:-

In the 1891 census the family were living near Horton in Ribblesdale and Harrison was working as a “general labourer”. By 1901 they had moved to Holme, Lancashire and Harrison was now a “limestone quarryman”.

The family continued their regular travels and in 1911 they were living in Halifax, West Yorkshire. Harrison was employed as a “quarryman”.

I have today found the following article from the Yorkshire Post & Leeds Intelligencer of 15 July 1911.

DEATHS FROM HEAT

A farm labourer, named Harrison Musgrove, aged 45 years, died from the effects of the intense heat on Thursday, at Burton-in-Lonsdale, four miles from Ingleton. Dr Troughton was able to certify that death was due to heat apoplexy. Musgrove hailed from Jubilee Street, Halifax, where his wife is now living.